{"id":4359,"date":"2021-02-13T15:19:48","date_gmt":"2021-02-13T15:19:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/?p=4359"},"modified":"2021-02-14T16:08:31","modified_gmt":"2021-02-14T16:08:31","slug":"joining-at-a-distance-five-things-missing-when-people-start-new-jobs-remotely","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/joining-at-a-distance-five-things-missing-when-people-start-new-jobs-remotely\/","title":{"rendered":"Joining at a distance: Five things missing when people start new jobs remotely"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re nearly a year into the pandemic and, for many of us, life goes on. I’m working with companies who are recruiting and coaching a couple of people who\u2019ve started new leadership positions during lockdown. But starting a new job is different now. \u00a0This month I want to focus what’s missing<\/em> when people start new jobs in a pandemic. So here are five things you don\u2019t get in a remote working environment – and some of them have an upside.<\/p>\n

1. Physical presence<\/h2>\n

Like it or not, we make judgments about people, often unconsciously, based on their physical presence \u2013 the way they move, how they hold themselves, their height. When we meet only on Zoom we miss a lot of these cues. This favours some more than others. If you’re tall, but not unusually so, and particularly if you look fabulous in a well-cut suit, you used to make an impact before you even open your mouth. You may not have been aware of the advantage your physical presence gave you but, trust me, it was there.<\/p>\n

By contrast, if you’re considerably taller or shorter than average, or if you have some sort of physical disability, then you don’t need me to tell you that that’s the first thing people see. Now that everyone meets sitting down it’s much more of a level playing field, with one layer of unconscious bias removed. I’m reasonably confident that remote working will make it easier for some people to get hired and to establish themselves in their new team on equal terms without being seen as the freakishly tall bloke \/ that cute little woman you have to bend down to talk to \/ the ‘tragic but brave’ one in the wheelchair.<\/p>\n

2. A sense of place<\/h2>\n

Normally when you start a new job, everything\u2019s different. You have a different journey to work, find your way around an unfamiliar building, work out which coffee mugs are off limits and so on. Now you start a new job sitting in your usual chair, in the room where you did your last job and you already know where the kettle is. \u00a0For some people this helps. I’ve heard of people, particularly young people at the start of their careers, who feel less anxious and self-conscious about starting a new job remotely. There’s less fear of being stared at as the newbie. But there is a downside.<\/p>\n

Without those cues to signal that you you\u2019ve joined a new group, just how much do you feel you belong? I know of people in new jobs who have momentarily forgotten who they work for. I haven’t seen any research on employee engagement in new starters who join remotely but I suspect it will be an area of research in the future. Wise employers will work harder to ensure that new joiners are brought into the organisation, feel part of something and understand how their jobs contribute to the organisation\u2019s objectives.<\/p>\n

3. Informal contact<\/h2>\n

One of the things people seem to miss most when working from home is the chance to just bump into people. You can replace meetings with Zoom calls but those chance encounters at the coffee machine or in the corridor are hard to replicate. This makes it particularly difficult for new starters to build their internal networks. First-hand accounts of people starting new jobs suggest that colleagues are going out of their way to be helpful (obviously this will vary between organisations), so that’s good news. There’s plenty that organisations can do in terms of buddying schemes and social events to help people integrate.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re the new person, and particularly in you\u2019re in a leadership role, it\u2019s worth making deliberate efforts to get to know people rather than waiting for it to just happen. The more senior you are, the wider your network needs to be so that you understand the context in which you\u2019re working. But often I find clients\u00a0 feel uncomfortable contacting busy people without a good reason. We work on creating reasons to be in touch. There are two ways to approach this (I suggest using both):<\/p>\n